E-Paper
Black market for black fungus drugs: Nursing staff, medical reps arrested
PUNE The Pimpri-Chinchwad police have busted a black-marketing operation of antifungal drugs used for treatment of a fungal infection mucormycosis (black fungus), detected increasingly in Covid-19 recovery cases
PUNE The Pimpri-Chinchwad police have busted a black-marketing operation of antifungal drugs used for treatment of a fungal infection mucormycosis (black fungus), detected increasingly in Covid-19 recovery cases.
Of the six people arrested in the case, some are nursing staff, while others are medical representatives of a pharmaceutical company. A press briefing was held by commissioner Krishna Prakash of the Pimpri- Chinchwad police on Thursday.
The police had recovered three vials of D Liposomol Amphotericin-B, worth ₹23,442, from the five people arrested on June 7. The first arrests were made based on information received by Sudhir Hiremath, deputy commissioner of police, crime, Pimpri-Chinchwad police.
Sub inspector Deepak Kadbane of Wakad police station started investigating the case further and arrested one man from Solapur identified as Sharadbasweshwar Siddheshwar Dhamame (38), a resident of Sonamata nagar in Vijapur road, Solapur.
The police recovered 22 more vials from him that were sourced from Gulbarga in Karnataka. Of the 22 vials, 14 were Liposomol Amphotericin-B worth ₹84,000, and eight were Amphotericin B Liposom for ₹60,000, collectively worth ₹1,44,000.
One of the other accused, Rajshekhar Kasappa Bhajantri, is a nurse at the Gulbarga Institute of Medical Science, from where he is suspected to have sourced the injections.
A case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Drug Price Control Rules 2013, Essential Commodities Act, Drug and Cosmetic Products Act, has been registered at Wakad police station.
